PatrickQRS Reviews

Charlie Bartlett (2007)

A Pre-Showing Summary

[10/10 · 7 February 2008]

After seeing Charlie Bartlett tonight in a Pre-Screening at my university, and after a Q&A with the director I am in cloud 9. This film is incredible, everything about it worked. The screenplay was genius, as well as the Direction. The acting could not have been better, and I feel that this film has allowed Anton Yelchin to join the ranks with Ellen Page and Paul Dano.

Naturally when I first saw the trailer, I thought to myself that it was just going to be another teen movie. Nothing special, then something intrigued me. This was the fact that it was rated R. Needless to say I was completely blown away.

First, the script was just incredible, and what surprised me was that it was a very heavy movie. It throws your emotions around, from hysterical laughter, to momentary depression. This was only accentuated by the Actors that performed in it. The first impression I got in terms of acting was how well Robert Downey Jr. and Kat Dennings played off of each other. These too make a perfect father daughter paring from a broken home. They love each other, however they have their problems. The next parent child relationship we are introduced to is Hope Davis and Anton Yelchin, this again is another look on family life in broken homes. But with out question Anton Yelchin and Robert Downey Jr. stole the show. There performance was the best I have seen, from Robert Downey Jr.’s other films to Anton Yelchin’s first huge film. This will no doubt put him in the ranks of the other phenomenal teen actors that seem to be arising from the wood work.

This film was fantastic from the acting, to the music, to the editing, to the screenplay. It deals with many difficult topics, that will no doubt cause much controversy. Much like Juno did with its topics of sex and teen pregnancy, this film has a great deal of difficult content. Understand the message being set in front of you, and don’t focus specifically on the content, it is much more then what you see.

Make this movie huge! The director was incredibly modest, and seems to be incredibly underestimating his work, see it, tell everyone about it. This is a gem that isn’t going to fade away soon.

Juno (2007)

"Thundercats are GOOOO!"

[10/10 · 26 December 2007]

This film has been nothing less then the hype of the independent film world this year. I have heard it called "2007's Little Miss Sunshine" and seen reviews titled "Teenage Comedy with Merit, Who Knew?" Well I am a sucker for good indie buzz, so of coarse I was drawn to Juno like a June bug to a screen door on a hot summer evening. After finally seeing it after all of the buzz, it is safe to say that it lives up to every bit of the hype. I would as well rank this up there, or even better then films like Little Miss Sunshine.

The acting was fantastic, in particular the delivery of Juno MacGuff that was so eloquently portrayed by Ellen Page. I remember the first time I watched her in Hard Candy, she pulled of in my opinion the most sadistic character in independent film today and I remember saying to myself "This actress is going somewhere." Jennifer Garner was wonderful as the uptight nervous adoptee to be. Jason Bateman pulled off the jerk man-child character wonderfully. Last but not least Michael Cera was wonderful as Paulie Bleeker, the boy that accidentally got his girlfriend pregnant, not knowing exactly how to react to the situation at hand. Not to forget the rest of the wonderful cast. From Juno's wonderfully accepting dad, to her menstrual mom, to Paulie Bleeker's "hobbit mom." the full cast could not have been better.

With the indie buzz, I am also a sucker for a good film controversy. Any film that spurs up any controversy, gets my blood pumping. I always have to go and see "what the big deal is" and realize that most people are way off base and are not watching the movie as a movie. Obviously, the controversy behind this film is rooted in teen pregnancy. Controversy like this always amuses me because it seems that people would rather ignore parts of society, then face the cold hard truth. No one will dispute that teen pregnancy is a problem. However dismissing any film for any difficult content is just wrong, and completely unjustified. If you would like to believe that films about teen pregnancy, along with other social problems should not be made because they are a problem in society then go live in your happy world in ignorance. However let us enjoy this terrible, terrible world in peace. This film was nothing but beautiful, it was not about a 16 year old messing up her life, and the life of a child. No, it was about her being responsible and making the world for an unable mother. This does not glorify teen pregnancy, if anything it shows the true value of adoption and family. Also, the film was blatant to the idea that Juno would be an unfit mother.

Without spoiling this film for everyone, just know that this is a beautifully witty yet serious film. It is a refreshing work and truly unique. I say refreshing because it is a teen film, that breaks away from that stigma of stupid humor of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Instead this is a film of intellectual humor, and jokes with merit! I think we can look forward to where these young actors and actresses are going, I know I sure am excited.

I tried to keep this review short, and to the point without spoiling anything for anyone. This is a great film that I would say is for everyone. Except of coarse those uptight jaded folks that cannot handle a little taboo.

Hands down 10/10.

Four Eyed Monsters (2005)

Four Eyed Monsters. Everybody’s relevance, Mainstream’s Terror.

[10/10 · 6 December 2007]

Everybody has been one. No one likes to watch them. Those four eyed monsters, two people who are completely aware of each other and completely unaware of their surroundings. Four eyes, two mouths, two heads, four ears, four arms, four legs, two souls. When you see these four eyed monsters what comes to mind? Sometimes jealously, disgust, envy, longing, loneliness. Everybody has been one, No one likes to watch them.

Four eyed monsters is no doubt a independent jewel. It is a movie that we all can relate with, we all have been there. A very unique look on relationships, and the love and companionship we all seek, fear, and love.

This film is incredibly underrated. Every negative thing I have seen is that the ending makes no sense. It makes complete sense, this story is not over yet. The film is what kept them together, and it shows from the point when they meet, get into their unorthodox relationship, to the current. This is almost a documentary about their own relationship and making this film is obviously a major reason why they stayed together, they could not just end this film. This tells a tale, and the ending, the film making is part of the story. This film does not end, because their story does not end. It is what it is, and what it is, is beautiful.

As far as composition, this film has a very unique style that can only be delivered by the independent film world. Four eyed monsters flowed exactly like their relationships, smooth at points, rough at points, sensual at some points, every scene was beautifully accentuated by the cinematography. The music as well fits perfectly, all of it by small time artists and fits perfectly. It sets a mood that only the passion of small time artists can, before the world of mainstream music has corrupted them.

This is not a movie for mainstream eyes however. It takes a certain kind of viewer to really appreciate this film. You have to watch it with a different eye, that is open to a fresh look in film. I would recommend this for anyone to see, however if you do see it remember independent film is a different world. Once you can understand that you will understand this film and see the beauty that so many people see.

Even if you did not enjoy this film, help these film makers out. This film has left them in incredible debt. Go to their website, http://www.foureyedmonsters.com/ , and do what they say because independent film is a tough business. It takes two seconds and is well worth it if it inspires them to put out more jewels like this.

Borat (2006)

Saterical humor at its best!

[8/10 · 31 January 2007]

I have immense respect for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. I have never seen a movie that took the line of what's acceptable and pushed it so far, intact Borat took the line and violated it in every way possible. I think what made me respect this movie so much was the fact that it was incredibly Anti-American. It took the flaws of the cultures of America and exploited them for all its worth. However every American I know that has seen it has loved it. Not many movies that make Americans look so bad are loved as much.

No matter how much I loved the idea of Borat, it really was a bit much for me. Not often can humor be too crude for myself, but points of this movie are so incredibly inappropriate that even I became a little uneasy, some very shocking methods were used to get reaction out of the audience, some of it was great, however a few scenes were a bit much for me. Everyone has their levels, and a few of the scenes scraped upon my levels.

This movie however did its job. It makes you believe the entire time its an actual documentary, you believe that what you are seeing actually all happened. You never think "its just a movie" you think "this is the most screwed up documentary I have ever seen." The fact that the documentary atmosphere was done so well made all the humor that much more crude and shocking, everything seems that much more real.

I did love this movie, It took all the flaws in American society and making all the social classes able to come together in the same theater and laugh at each other, with no one insulting anyone else, or anyone getting offended because this movie makes fun of every possible class that anyone can fit into you cant help but laugh at yourself.

I would recommend seeing this, however be warned, it is incredibly crude, and some may think disturbing at points. Be ready for every possible shocking thing you can think of to happen, for even I was un-easy at parts. Although it was a bit much for me at some points, that doesn't mean it wasn't great.

Epic Movie (2007)

This movie achieved the imposable.

[1/10 · 31 January 2007]

I went to this movie, fully expecting a bad movie, but the typical funny movie you go to with your buddies to make fun of and get a kick at. I went with my usual group of stupid movie buddies, and we realized that his movie pulled off the impossible. It failed at being a stupid humor movie.

That's not possible you say? Then waste your money and see this movie. Other words use your 9.50 and see a good movie like Children of Men, or Pan's Labyrinth. Epic Movie was a disaster. I have a feeling this is the sort of humor you would get if you put Condoleeza Rise and Dick Chaney and told them they had one hour to come up with 100 jokes. Not a good thing.

The movie made fun of various pop culture ideas, Paris Hilton, Borat, Snakes on a Plane, Sudoku, Dead Mans Chest, and many others. Tell me what part of Borat, and Snakes on a Plane warrants a satirical view? They are already satire! The humor was very stale too, they took the jokes already said in other stupid humor movies and said them again. It's like watching Airplane, then Airplane II the Sequel, all the same jokes repeated.

This movies humor was so stale, that the few one-liners I thought were amusing, were only amusing because of how UN-amusing the rest of the jokes are. The simple placement of "Chuck Norris Rocks" now that I think of it is no longer funny. A year ago yes, but not anymore. I chuckled though because I was desperately searching for something to laugh at.

The jokes in the movie were not at all creative, most stupid humor movies; their jokes are actually creative. Not epic movie however, for example, they switched up the most obvious things. Changing Willy Wonka's chocolate river with a sewage line, Changing The White Witch in Narnia to "The Wight Bitch." The jokes were just plane, and UN-inventive.

I am a sucker for stupid humor films. I loved all the good ones, all the Mel Brooks flicks, Kung Fu Hustle, Shoulin Soccer, Monty Python, Black Adder, I love it. I never thought that it was actually possible not to be successful making a stupid humor film; however that's exactly what Epic Movie Did. I say save your money, all that the movie is worth you already saw in the commercial.

V for Vendetta (2005)

5 Min. Long Chills.

[10/10 · 18 March 2006]

Not in a good bit has there been a movie I could not wait to review, that the second I got home I sat down at my computer and started typing. If you looking for a fantastic movie, action packed, deep in plot, and makes a statement that most think about but most cannot put to words, let alone movie. V for Vendetta was a movie for the ages that I can almost guarantee will stand up to the test of time and go down in cinematic history as one of the greats. The Wachowski brothers definitely made up for the abomination of the 2&3 matrix with this amazing work.

This movie reminds me a great deal in the book 1984, its message is beyond political. At first glance a viewer would see it as a message against conservatism, but as the movie unfolds you see it is against the opposite end of the spectrum too. It personifies the problems in both ends of the system. It is a message on what the world will become if we keep heading in the direction we are going in. America is destroyed from civil war, England has become ruled in Dictatorship. All that can fix what the would is heading to is a lone martyr to spark the good moral of all people, to realize that the world needs a huge change and fast. V, victim in cell 5. The one survivor of a terrible government controlled "accident" is this martyr. He makes a nation realize that only they can change what's happening, it had to start somewhere, and it started with him. V is an artist, a scholar, the perfect man to be the front for such an epic revolution such as this.

One who goes to see this movie, me included, think that this will be just another comic made into a movie, good for the action but not worth much more. But you leave the theater with a great deal more then what you expected. You leave in shock of getting something you didn't expect. That is what this movie is. Something you don't expect. I have gotten chills in movies before but I have never gotten them to the extent of watching the entire masked population of England march to see Parliaments destruction. You go expecting to see just another super hero, but what you get is a normal man who just has a message, an idea, and ideas cannot be destroyed. instead of your super hero you get a very determined victim who is more of a villain in his own right. Its hard to express but, he is a different, almost refreshing antagonist for a movie such as this. One of the things that set this movies realism was how very possible all the events could be, in some form or another. It is set in the near future, and is all very believable witch makes you think...what is our world really coming to.

This movie is very political, but it is incredibly hard to disagree with. This is due to the fact that its statement is against more then just conservatism, or liberalism, or anything, it has messages against everything so in some points of the movie there are things you will agree with, and that you will absolutely disagree with, but it is that that makes you realize the full ideals that this movie has. In the root of it, it is against the fact that our world is divided but beliefs. Something that our world should be joined by. It is a statement that if we are to stay divided then we are headed down a path that is oblivion (as they put it in a movie.)

After seeing this movie you leave with more then you thought you were going to go in with. Something UN-expected. Something fantastic. Something that will stay with you. I found myself yelling "Hell yes!" at the scream in some parts. It is superb in its on right.

I give it everything I have. This is not a movie soon to be forgotten.

"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having"

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

My two cents on the movie. Defanently the best one yet. Spoilers!!!

[10/10 · 20 November 2005]

I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter books, there one of my favorite series. I cant say the same however for the movies, the first three i thought were...OK...but there was never the magic so to say that i saw in the books. I always wanted a little bit more from the movies. This movie however i feel broke that trend for me. When i first thought about them making this book into a movie my first thought was how the hell are they gonna pull that off. I honestly think that they did. There approach to this movie was to cut out a lot, and focus on the huge parts, i love the small parts of the books but i realized that they couldn't make that into a movie without it being 97 hours long, not that i would complain to sit threw a 97 hour long movie. They even managed to cut characters roles by combining their role in the book with other characters in the book. I.E. Doby + Nevil. Although i wish that the small stuff could have been put in, i think that the result without was great. I think that it would have been acceptable to add 20 minutes to the movie to make each task just that much longer, but i know that the typical movie audience wouldn't want that. I think these kids are really starting to get good at this whole acting thing. Nevel for example, man was i impressed by that kids acting, he had few lines in the movie, but man did he get to me.

I have never heard of the director, and I'm going to do some research on him because i absolutely think his techniques were incredible. Most directors forget all the simple stuff, the stuff that cant be done by computers and that no one notices but really make a difference. The really elementary ideas of cinematic effects. I believe this director mastered it, i noticed a ton of things that were so simple they were beautiful. for example the use of water, i.e. tears on the window when it was raining, or the water running past the gargoyles mouth when it was raining. This director had such a different approach to the movie, some parts i thought was almost UN-desired, but most of it i loved. i love it when a director goes to the bottom of the bag and uses all the tricks he can think of. thats one of the ingredients to make a good director.

there were only a handful of complaints that i can make about this movie. There are two parts that i think are essential to the books point that weren't in the movie, the Triwizard tournament, i mean the actual game. Also the hospital scene when you find out about Nevil's parents. and see the stupefied old dark arts teacher, not to mention Mr. Wesley and his "muggle cures." Also i think some of the acting in the beginning was a little over acted, i.e. Mad-eye moody. I also thought that for the first 1/3 of the movie the score of music didn't really line up like it should have, this is sad because i always loved the harry potter scores. Finally i believe the ending should have been like in the book. The book had one of the most intense endings ever. the movie did not, it just kinda ended in the happy note. The book ended with the...oh crap, were in trouble, chaos is happening...feeling, when Dubledore sent Hagred out with his new love to "do what he has to" (we find out in the 5th book that he is trying to get the giants on the good side) and Dumbledore sends Snape to spy on Voldemort. then the book ended. It was one of the most "holy crap" "what happens next" end of the book i have ever read. The movie didn't do that to me, i feel that it would have helped the movie a lot more if it did happen this way. Also it would have lead into the 5th movie very well.

I love also that they allowed this to be PG-13, it lead room for more to happen, and i hope that if necessary (from reading the books it is necessary) to increase this more in the future, it leaves them with more breathing room to make things the way they should be, not to mention it kinda follows the fans as they get older. I think that this was one of the best moves in the production of this movie.

I really hope that this director stays on board, he did this movie better than Christopher Colombus (director of the first two) and i thought he did damn well. This director blew me away. He pulled off the impossible, and hopefully he stays with Harry long enough to pull off the yet even more impossible.

This movie was hilarious, dramatic, suspenseful, and damn right jaw drooping its a 5 star movie if i ever saw one.

I recommend reading the book before you see it, i think if you read the book, and realize that it is OK that they left so much out then you will love it. If you don't read the book it will still be good, but you wont get the same effect because there is a lot of stuff that is in there but isn't described like it should have been.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

NEED THE OLD DERECTOR BACK!!

[8/10 · 6 June 2004]

OK the first thing i want to say is that if you have not read the book or seen this movie than do not read this review because it gives away many parts of the story that i don't think should be ruined for you, the second thing i want to say is that the prisoner of Azkaban was my second favorite book out of the series so far, right behind the order of the phenix

now that i said that i would like to say that this movie was horrible

the order of events that went on in the book were completely butchered out out of order in this movie, important events, like when mowfoy and his friends dressed up like dementers and hary performed the patronus on them were completely left out, and many important people have just been completely left out, like Percy, who this year was when he became head boy, and oliver wood who this was his last year at hogwarts, i could name people who were left out all night long but those are some examples

they left out many important details that if you did not read the book befor you saw the movie than you would have no idea what is going on, for example they didn't explain the time turner at all...

the only thing that i thought was almost good was how they saved sirus, but that was still a little off

they definitely need to get the old director back for the rest of the movies because this one obviously has know idea what he is doing, the old director i thought did very good in capturing the story but it seems that the new director is just sucking all of the fantasy and majic that harry potter is good and known for

there are many other things wrong with this book but i do not want to go on all night, so ill leave off here and let you decide what you think of the movie...